Gear

Though the inside looks as big as the outside, don?t be fooled; the important part is how the space is being used. ?Efficiency is the motto,? said Chairman and CEO of Sport Chalet Craig Levra. The 45,000 square-foot monster-sized store in the new Town Center, which is primed for its big ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9 a.m. today and the grand opening Friday at 9:30 a.m., will be housing just about every kind of sporting clothing and equipment you can think of. Skateboarding decks and clothes?

It’s time to delve into the depths of your garage and dust off the two-wheeler. The city of La Cañada Flintridge has completed design plans for a 3.4-mile bike route and will begin striping work in July, city traffic engineer Erik Zandvliet said. The bike lanes will run along parts of Verdugo Boulevard, Descanso Drive and Berkshire Avenue, and then will connect with La Cañada’s only bike lane on Oak Grove Drive. Named the Red Route, it will also connect with Pasadena’s westernmost bike lane.

The candidates who want to represent the local communities in state office are gearing up for the June 6 election, with the election calendar beginning Dec. 30. The only incumbents voters can pick are the two members of Congress, Adam Schiff and David Dreier, as all the Assembly members are term limited out this year. The same thing will happen in two years for State Senators Jack Scott and Bob Margett. Five candidates are seeking the 44th District Assembly seat now held represented by Carol Liu. They are La Cañada Mayor Anthony Portantino, Pasadena commissioner Diane Peterson-More, Adam Murray, Brian Center and David Trujillo, all Democrats.

Hampered by a left-wrist injury that affected her long game, Jocelyn Chia spent time trying to perfect her short game to compensate. Feeling a slight soreness most times she hit off a tee or an approach shot during the first half of the season, the Crescenta Valley High sophomore girls' golfer encountered a more calming presence and a lack of pain when it came to making a putt. While the injury nagged Chia, it proved to be a boon for her as the season progressed. "It bothered me a little in the beginning of the season, but it definitely helped my short game," Chia said.

The La Cañada High boys' soccer team shifted into the elusive "second gear" it's been looking for all year during its first-round match of the CIF Southern Section Division V playoffs against Nogales. The consistent downpour Friday that didn't let up the entire game didn't slow down La Cañada (23-0-2) — the No. 1 seed in the division. The Spartans dominated Nogales (8-13-3) from start to finish and grabbed a convincing 9-3 victory at home. Arash Mahboubi got the scoring started for La Cañada in the 10 t h minute.

Long a tradition in the foothills, the annual Thanksgiving Day Run & Food Drive hosted by the Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge will take place Thursday, Nov. 26. This 5K Run/Walk and kids 1 mile has been a favorite with families, athletes and community supporters alike, as it allows them to support the community center and donate canned food to people in need. Formerly known as The Run for the Hungry, the event’s name was changed to more accurately reflect the center’s fundraising efforts.

Paradise Canyon Elementary is gearing up for its annual Book Fair which begins this Saturday and continues through Thursday, Dec. 15. PCY PTA is sponsoring the return of Mrs. Nelson's Book Fair, and the community is invited to attend. Hundreds of children's books will be available including new titles in children's literature, Newberry and Caldecott award winners as well as non-fiction, poetry, and picture books. The book fair will be open on Saturday and Sunday and on Wednesday evening in addition to the regular weekday hours.

Dustin Crumb doesn't normally work on dinosaurs, but on Monday evening his official La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Rose Assn. T-shirt was covered in grime from a long day of building a brontosaurus. Crumb, a mechanical engineer from Pasadena, said fabricating the prehistoric beast from metal, foam and eventually flowers is well within the skill set of his volunteer crew. “There's a lot of tribal knowledge that gets passed down” through years of building Rose Parade floats, said Crumb, who has worked on floats for 15 years.

The La Cañada Flintridge Educational Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to raising money each year for La Cañada's public schools, begins its spring phone campaign next week. Volunteers will be operating in space offered by Dilbeck Real Estate. Community members are encouraged to continue donations of $2,500 per family. Specifically, the foundation plans to earmark funds to reduce class sizes in grades 4-6; further reduce class sizes in ninth-grade English and math; revitalize La Cañada Unified School District campuses, fields and facilities; expand course offerings and complete technological upgrades.

A day after returning from spring break Monday, La Cañada Unified will embark on a month-long period of Common Core field testing when La Cañada Elementary School students sit in computer labs for the first-ever in a series of completely online standardized tests. The tests they take - aligned with new state standards that demand ingenuity, problem solving and critical thinking skills - will not be graded, nor will schools or administrators learn how students performed. Instead, the California Department of Education and the Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium (SBAC)

A former assemblyman and a Pasadena councilwoman have announced plans to run for a state Senate seat in the 25th district currently held by Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge). The seat will open up in 2016 when Liu must leave office due to term limits. The district, established during last year's redistricting, includes La Cañada Flintridge, Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena. Anthony Portantino, a Democrat, said Friday that he is getting back into politics because people in his district want him to keep pushing for transparency in government and funding for education.

Dustin Crumb doesn't normally work on dinosaurs, but on Monday evening his official La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Rose Assn. T-shirt was covered in grime from a long day of building a brontosaurus. Crumb, a mechanical engineer from Pasadena, said fabricating the prehistoric beast from metal, foam and eventually flowers is well within the skill set of his volunteer crew. “There's a lot of tribal knowledge that gets passed down” through years of building Rose Parade floats, said Crumb, who has worked on floats for 15 years.

Running in 20 marathons and participating in multiple triathlons would seem a strong athletic legacy, but La Cañada Flintridge resident Don Sheppard has eyes on the holy grail of U.S. cycling: a cross-country ride. Next week Sheppard, 65, starts on a 41-day, 3,215-mile trek from Santa Barbara to Charleston, S.C. His training rides have included trips up Angeles Crest Highway to Mount Wilson and other tests in the San Gabriel Mountains as he prepares for a journey that will include a grueling 93,000 feet of climbing.

Ten Years Ago A six-month-long process of filling the president/chief executive position at the Crescenta-Cañada YMCA ended with the hiring of Larry Hall, who came from the YMCA of Greater Seattle. Twenty Years Ago La Cañada's branch of Bank of America was robbed on an otherwise quiet August day by a lone gunman who escaped with more than $2,500. Thirty Years Ago A motor home dealer, Al Shaw, in August 1982 bought Foothill Chevrolet on Verdugo Boulevard in La Cañada (where the movie theater complex is today)

A scientific instrument designed to take the most meaningful snapshot yet of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is on its way to space, via a lengthy testing detour in Arizona. On May 9 Jet Propulsion Laboratory workers in La Canada Flintridge sent the instrument, part of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, to Gilbert, Ariz., where it will be tested and integrated with the satellite that will house it. NASA plans to launch the OCO-2 from Vandenberg Air Force Base by the summer of 2014.

Hampered by a left-wrist injury that affected her long game, Jocelyn Chia spent time trying to perfect her short game to compensate. Feeling a slight soreness most times she hit off a tee or an approach shot during the first half of the season, the Crescenta Valley High sophomore girls' golfer encountered a more calming presence and a lack of pain when it came to making a putt. While the injury nagged Chia, it proved to be a boon for her as the season progressed. "It bothered me a little in the beginning of the season, but it definitely helped my short game," Chia said.

All four La Cañada Unified School Board candidates have confirmed that they will participate in an election forum scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the La Cañada High School auditorium. The 90-minute forum is being co-sponsored by the La Cañada PTA Council and the League of Women Voters, and will include time for candidate statements as well as questions from the audience. A similar event hosted during the 2009 election season drew about 75 people. “The candidates have an opportunity to listen to the concerns of their possible constituents, and then of course it gives the voters the chance to compare and contrast the candidates on the issues,” said Bonnie Skolnik, director of voter services with the League of Women Voters.

The following are previews of the area's upcoming high school football games this week. Crescenta Valley Coach Paul Schilling and St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds know what's at stake when its time to compete in the "Battle for Foothill Boulevard" contest. Community interest goes to another decibel level with both sides of the bleachers packed with ardent fans cheering on their respective teams. Schilling and Bonds don't expect it to be any different when the teams meet in the latest installment of the nonleague contest at 7:30 p.m. Friday at St. Francis High's Friedman Field.